Hidroeléctrica do Cávado (1944-1966): A construção da paisagem hidroeléctrica do Cávado e as obras de Januário Godinho

Abstract

The beginning of the second half of the 20th century saw an ambitious programme of modernization in Portugal, with the construction of several large hydroelectric power stations in the north of the country, built to provide electrical power to the nation on a massive scale. This study, entitled The Cávado Hydroelectric Company (1944-1966), Construction of the hydroelectric landscape of the Cávado river and the works of Januário Godinho, will look in detail at one of these hydroelectric projects and the transformation that it brought to the landscape in which it was set, and will seek by this process to understand the input of architect Januário Godinho in the creation of the environment envisioned for the territory. Between 1944 and 1965 the Cávado Hydroelectric Company (the Hidroeléctrica do Cávado - HICA) embarked on five major hydroelectric projects. These were located at the Venda Nova reach on the Rabagão river (1951); at the reaches of Salamonde (1953) and Caniçada (1955), downstream from the confluence of the Cávado and Rabagão rivers; at the reach at Paradela (1958) on the Cávado river, upstream from Paradela; and at the reach at Alto Rabagão (1965) on the Rabagão river, upstream from Venda Nova. Dams and power stations were constructed at each site, together with small villages to house labourers, technicians and managerial staff. The aim of this work is to look at the different activities that took place at these locations by means of a methodological analysis of the architectural production at these sites, linked as they are in time and place to the HICA hydroelectric company, identifying the reasoning and principles that supported the architectural choices that were made. The changes to the hydrographic basin of the Cávado river and its tributaries caused by the hydroelectric projects, and how these changes were managed and carried out, are also analysed. The variety of agents - engineers, politicians and architects - involved in the construction of the landscape of the Cávado, all of whom had significant impacts on the transformation of the territory, made it difficult to create a clear idea of the landscape as a whole. Through Hica, this work contributes to the understanding of the construction of the industrial landscape in Portugal in the mid-20th century in the cultural and economic context of that time.